Skywatcher Wifi Adapter

[Gualtar Pennington]

Ihave recently purchased this in the hope that I could control my SkyWatcher 250P GOTO dob with SkySafariPro on my Samsung Phone. The provided handset does not seem to have a straightforward means of correcting an imprecise alignment without going through the whole alignment process again. In SkySafari the align button does this with just one press.

For me the "fun" started when attempting to connect via SkySafari. I did watch a couple of YouTube videos but the instructions given did not work for me. There are no instructions provided with the adapter but there are some within the Synscan App. (although not very obvious).

In my case it did not. Much hair tearing (not that I have much!) and a few hours later it did connect and then later did not. Over the next 24 hours I managed to get connection twice but many times no connection.

To cut a long story short it turned out that I had my phone using a battery saving mode and the two occasions it had worked was when the phone was connected to the charger. So out of battery saving mode and it works smoothly every time.

4. Within the Synscan App there is a cool feature where the scope will goto the direction you are pointing the phone (or other controlling device) and you can then have all objects nearby listed for potential goto.

I think you will find that for some reason best known to Apple you need 2 Sky watcher Wifi adapters when using an Ipad and Sky Safari - Not done this myself but i am reliable informed by someone who tests these items out! Unless this is wrong now as something has changed!

Plus I seem to remember ,must be 3yrs ago since last used an handset , but by pressing ESC ESC you could realign an object and so not have to start realignment again -Again 3yrs since last used so might be wrong.

Thanks for that. I have seen that as well, but where on earth you would plug a second adapter in, I do not know? The Synscan app does work fine on the iPad. In the instructions for an iOS device it says enter the IP address of the device that runs the Synscan App. I haven't a clue how to find that. Anyone any ideas? Not urgent for me but others may find it useful.

Where you put it - always a good one. I dont know either but maybe Apple dont support ADHOC networks or UDP for "Security Reasons" - would be interested from purely a techie reason as the Skywatcher WIFI adapter gets its power from the mount !!!!!!! But I don't used Apples so no clue as it would have to present TTL UART circuits. Not seen any info anywhere on the HOW ???? Or it could be when using Sky Safari only as Itunes doesn't mention anything about 2 adapters

You can find the IP address by going to settings and Wifi and tapping on the information symbol on the right hand side of the screen next to the wifi network. Obviously you need to be connected to the Synscan network for this to give the correct address.

So does that mean ,on the AZGTI, Skywire gives you the "Serial" link that the Synscan App can use instead of a network connection - but you connect serial(RS232) Skywire into the Handset serial port and then connect the normal handset to mount cable. I.E. Wired not wireless ??????

I think the AZGTi behaves the same way as other Synscan mounts. The handset connects to the mount as normal, then you plug the Skywire cable into the multi-purpose port and connect it to the iPhone. This gives serial connection and enables the phone to communicate. The key thing is that with iOS devices they cannot run two apps at once so you need the Synscan controller to control the mount as you cannot run the app alongside SkySafari.

SkyFi will (I believe) also act as the connection between handset and phone if you want to avoid cables. I'm not sure if the Skywatcher Wifi adapter will work in the same way but hopefully someone will check it out at some point.

Hi Dave, an interesting read - it's certainly within my budget (though probably after Crimble) and I'm all for something that's simpler to use - I won't touch Apple with a barge-pole so I am firmly in the android camp - my life should be easy with it.

No don't do - Its not a good idea for reason explained else where (TTL signal,RS232 signals and voltages). If you want Wireless Ipad/Iphone and sky Safari you will have to buy SkyFi(160) - maybe others

If you did try then I don't think two adaptors are needed, you would just need to connect the device running Synscan to the Wifi adaptor and then the SkySafari device to the same network. It may work, but don't hold your breath!

I recently bought the Skywatcher Wifi Adapter for my AZ-EQ6GT mount. I works fine from both my PC and mobile phone using the SynScan Pro app. I was wondering if there was a way of controlling the mount with the wifi adapter using stellarium/EQMOD? If there is, what settings do I need?

Yep use the Skywatcher Mobile Ascom driver so load Synscan app and connect to scope. Then connect Stellarium(Scope) to Ascom driver (choose Synscan mobile driver - need to install it first!) it will then ask you for the details (may even auto find the adapter) - should then connect to Stellarium or CDC.

Hi Stash, I have tried all that and cannot get it to connect from Stellarium on my PC to the mount. I have downloaded the Skywatcher Mobile Ascom Driver, I can select Synscan Mobile Telescope from the scope selection box in StellariumScope but it wont connect to it? Any ideas or a more detailed instruction list that my simple mind can handle? :-)

2. You must load and connect the Skywatcher Mobile App (SYNSCANPRO) (best use Pro version) first using the selecting the UDP connection in the connection settings section. After which press BACK then press CONNECT button at the top. As the AZEQ6 can be AZ or EQ it should present you with a EQ or AZ selection menu - choose EQ in this case. The latter will not happen if it cannot talk and get answers from the mount!!!!

A pointer - I found that the Skywatcher Mobile Ascom Driver does not appear in front of some of programs but remains hidden after you press ok on the Ascom Chooser Menu Window - you will need to do a ALT + Tab(Shows you all the windows currently being used - pressing ALT + Tab (dont press the + it just means hold the ALT key and press the TAB key) to jump to the Skywatcher window that should appear. I don't mean the Ascom Chooser window but a window that I presume is launched by the Mobile App Ascom driver asking to which device( IP Address of the PC running SYNSCAN App - well it does on mine ) to connect too.

Jarraman - I have the same mount AZEQ6 and was looking at the SkyWatcher WiFi adaptor too with Stellarium (and Sequence Generator Pro). from your post am I to understand you have this working with an android device as a remote control as well?

The SynScan app can work with third party telescope control software such as Planetarium. In Windows and Android devices you can use the SynScan app and your Planetarium on the same device. For iOS the SynScan app and Planetarium cannot run on the same device. In order to use Planetarium with iOS, you need a device that runs the SynScan app and another device with your Planetarium software.

The Sky-Watcher Wi-Fi dongle is a godsend for me :-) I have a 12" collapsable GoTo and an older ED80 on an AllView mount, both are AZ drives. Both telescope units were bought second hand and both had tracking issues using the hand controller. I tested the wi-fi dongle on both units where I have a limited sky view. The DOB and the AllView both performed excellently with spoton tracking. I still need to try the AllView with a camera attached to the ED80. I have been recommending the dongle to my friends at my local observatory.

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